Deadman Wonderland 1 to 6

Deadman Wonderland Volumes 1 to 6 by Jinsei Katoka, (6 books - 1186 pages)

Ganta’s life already sucks, first he lost nearly everybody he knew in the big earthquake ten years ago and now a grinning psychopath massacred everyone in his class at school except him. He quickly gets tried, convicted, and sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland, a prison/amusement park. Upon arrival he gets fitted with a collar that will kill him unless he eats a piece of “candy” every so often. The warden and guards control only give out this “candy” if you stay useful to them and help entertain the amusement park guests. But Ganta soon realizes that the prison is not entirely what it seems and he has special powers that could be very useful. Well useful if he can stay alive long enough to figure out how to use them.

Deadman Wonderland, despite its violent and gory opening, starts off rather dull. I feel that I saw that a lot with manga and graphic novels but I cannot help but feel that way. Maybe there is something about entire books being devoted to setting the scene and character development that makes them feel slow. This feeling is likely enhanced when you realize that you have read 200 pages and all that has happened is Ganta has been sent to prison. I know that if that same amount of text was condensed it likely would not even reach 20 pages, but something in my brain is already bored.

The series really picks up from there and becomes more of the action packed, gory mess that I picked it up and wanted to read it for. Some of the plots are a still a little shaky, and the character development is odd at best, but it wasn’t awful and killed some time. Think of it as a cartoon, not the best thing you have ever watched, but something you will watch more of to pass the time.